25 per cent of women trained through WIIN have established businesses

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security ─ Women’s Innovation and Investment Network’s (WIIN) Women in Business initiative has been yielding positive results, with 48 per cent of participants already gaining employment while another 25 per cent opened businesses.

Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud made the announcement during the opening of the ‘WE LIFT 3’ Exposition at the MovieTowne Tarmac over the weekend.

The programme aims to support and empower women, by providing a range of opportunities, including access to employment in the public and private sectors, as well as encouraging economic independence, particularly for single mothers and those from low-income backgrounds.

Minister Persaud also noted that over 4,000 women in the ten administrative regions received training through the initiative.

“We have been training women in business. So that does not mean a talk shop; they have to have a business plan at the end of it, and they also have to register their businesses,” Minister Persaud stated.

She relayed that the efforts by the government to include women in every aspect of development have been reflected in the report by the World Economic Forum.

“All of that was equivalent to us moving up 18 spots in one year as a country. And what does that signal? That the gender gap is narrowing, we still have a lot of work to do but it’s happening and at a rapid pace and so these are the kinds of statistics that give us the kind of credibility and encouragement,” the minister highlighted.

Some $100 million was allocated in budget 2023 towards the WIIN programme which aims to train 6,000 women in 2023.

To date, 10,000 applications have been received by the ministry and Dr Persaud is urging interested agencies/companies to make funding available to train the additional 4,000 women.